A review by mad_about_books
Barnabas Tew and The Case Of The Missing Scarab by Columbkill Noonan
4.0
Barnabas Tew fancies himself a detective. In school, he became enamored of the tales of Sherlock Holmes and decided he too had the requisite skills of deduction and logic. Upon graduation, he set himself up in Marylebone, got himself an assistant and waited for cases and acclaim. Sadly, our hero, who is as wide as he is tall, and tends to go off on verbal tangents at every opportunity, didn't do as well as he expected… at least not in this life.
In BARNABAS TEW AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING SCARAB, Barnabas and his assistant, Wilfred Colby decide that without a case at hand, they will go to the museum to see the new Egyptian mummy exhibit. There was no entry fee which suited their sparse pocketbooks just fine. It is nearly closing time when Barnabas and Wilfred finally get close to seeing the main attraction. Suddenly, it would seem that they are alone in the museum. Thus begins their adventure in the Egyptian afterlife.
Along with Barnabas, Wilfred, and various Egyptian gods, there is an omniscient, if parenthetical, voice that explains much of what is said by our two English gentlemen as they navigate from one animal headed god to the next.
As is so often the case, the great detective in the story just doesn't know as much as he would like others to think he knows; therefore, he needs a stalwart companion to smooth the way and fill in the blanks. Columbkill Noonan takes us for a humorous romp through Egyptian mythology that is most unique.
There are four books in the Barnabas Tew series, and it would appear that they need to be read in order. At the end of The Case of the Missing Scarab, Barnabas and Wilfred are referred to their next case, thus one book runs into the next. So no cliffhanger, but continuity seems to dictate reading order.
In BARNABAS TEW AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING SCARAB, Barnabas and his assistant, Wilfred Colby decide that without a case at hand, they will go to the museum to see the new Egyptian mummy exhibit. There was no entry fee which suited their sparse pocketbooks just fine. It is nearly closing time when Barnabas and Wilfred finally get close to seeing the main attraction. Suddenly, it would seem that they are alone in the museum. Thus begins their adventure in the Egyptian afterlife.
Along with Barnabas, Wilfred, and various Egyptian gods, there is an omniscient, if parenthetical, voice that explains much of what is said by our two English gentlemen as they navigate from one animal headed god to the next.
As is so often the case, the great detective in the story just doesn't know as much as he would like others to think he knows; therefore, he needs a stalwart companion to smooth the way and fill in the blanks. Columbkill Noonan takes us for a humorous romp through Egyptian mythology that is most unique.
There are four books in the Barnabas Tew series, and it would appear that they need to be read in order. At the end of The Case of the Missing Scarab, Barnabas and Wilfred are referred to their next case, thus one book runs into the next. So no cliffhanger, but continuity seems to dictate reading order.